However, the political back and forth on whether police were right to seize guns they found while checking evacuated homes in High River, Alta., continued as Smith held a town-hall meeting in the community Thursday night.

Wildrose MLA Joe Anglin called for a public inquiry into the matter, while the communications office for Premier Alison Redford contended that Smith had once "supported securing firearms" during the disaster.

"Question for RCMP," Anglin wrote on Twitter. "If the army was flying over High River with infrared cameras, why kick in doors?"

That prompted a terse reply from deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk: "They're only Mounties. Not GI Joe. Cut them some slack."

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High River Residents Return

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Smith said she wanted to hold Thursday's meeting after hearing complaints about "the forced entry into private residences and the seizure of private property such as firearms."

In early July, she welcomed a call by RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson for an investigation into the seizure of firearms, saying it had only "aggravated an already tense and stressful situation."

The Mounties said at the time they took the weapons as officers searched homes in the town's flood zone to look for stranded people, pets and anything that might pose a threat to returning residents.

They said officers found that some gun owners had laid out their weapons in plain view as they presumably moved valuable possessions to higher ground.

Most of the weapons were later returned to their owners.

Redford defended the actions of the Mounties at the time, saying they didn't want to leave the weapons "sitting on fireplace mantles in a town that was evacuated.''